VIDEO: Crowd pleads to Daytona officials to shelter homeless

Wednesday

Daytona city commissioners will try to solve funding problem for homeless shelter.

DAYTONA BEACH — Facing a standing-room-only crowd passionate about the city's increasingly visible homeless problem, the mayor and city commissioners unanimously agreed at their meeting Wednesday night they're ready to shift from talk to action.

Commissioners directed City Manager Jim Chisholm to double down on his efforts to find money to operate a homeless shelter that's proposed to be built west of city limits, the last missing piece in a years-long effort to create a comprehensive assistance center for those living on the streets.

"I'd love to break ground before my term is up in November. That's my goal," said City Commissioner Pam Woods.

"I think that commitment we have remains," Mayor Derrick Henry told the hundreds of people packed into the commission chambers, some holding signs that pleaded for a homeless shelter. "We're undaunted by the challenges we face."

(BREAKING: Volusia council tells Daytona, make a decision soon or we'll pull out.)

The Volusia County Council has offered to donate land for a shelter along with $4 million for construction — but only if cities throughout the county commit to covering shelter operating costs for at least five years. Not enough cities have agreed to do that, so Chisholm said he's going to talk to the county manager about how to move beyond the impasse while he also works on getting operating money by pursuing a bill in this year's state legislative session that would create a new food and beverage tax.

"I don't think we stop any of what we're doing," Chisholm said. "Let's get on track to get something done."

Chisholm pointed out that operating costs wouldn't start until after a shelter was built, and that leaves enough time to pursue construction now. City Commissioner Rob Gilliland said he's not comfortable putting up a building without operating money locked in.

The city manager's and commissioners' vow to push harder for a shelter that would provide the homeless with all of their basic needs free of charge and offer guidance to get back on their feet was met with applause and a parade of thank-yous.

"I am so overwhelmed with joy tonight with your decision," said the Rev. Phil Egitto, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Daytona Beach and a leader in the FAITH group of local churches that has vigorously labored for a shelter.

"I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you," Egitto added. "I have lots of ideas how to raise enough money. It can be done."

FAITH member Joan Companero was also happy to see Daytona's leaders refusing to give up on the shelter.

Some of the roughly two-dozen people who stepped up to the microphone at the meeting, however, used their time to chide the city for its decision late last year to close bathrooms on City Island and Manatee Island that are used by the homeless who cluster in those areas. Chisholm said the homeless were severely damaging the restrooms and they had to be closed for repairs, but some suspect it was a move to chase the homeless out of the city's downtown where so many are visible every day.

The city has also taken out benches citywide, citing a lawsuit that alleges American's with Disabilities Act violations. But homeless people and their supporters also suspect the city did that to make things uncomfortable for the homeless.

"I'm appalled at the way these homeless people are being treated," said Daytona Beach resident Marjorie Johnson. "You cannot continue to sit here and bury your head in the sand. It is time for you to make something happen."

Local homeless advocate Mike Pastore quoted both Martin Luther King, Jr., and Jesus to make his points.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter," Pastore said. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self. Are our homeless not our neighbors?"

Rick Tidwell, a local pastor, said he's spent around 200 hours with local homeless and has concluded the unsheltered just need to sleep, use a restroom, eat and be left alone.

"As far as I know, none of these things are crimes," Tidwell said.

Not long after the city closed the bathrooms and took out the benches, a small crowd of homeless started spending their days and nights huddled in front of the Volusia County Administration Center at 250 N. Beach St.

The group of homeless people have made the hard concrete sidewalk under the brick building's awning their new home over the past few months — eating, sleeping, socializing and even urinating and defecating there. Their presence has raised the visibility of the longtime homeless problem in Daytona Beach.

Ideas County Councilman Josh Wagner said he'll bring up at Thursday's Council meeting include putting up portable bathrooms behind the Volusia County Administration Center and using the Votran bus station in downtown Daytona as a place for the homeless to sleep at night.

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